Gail Lewis – SUPER Model

If you’ve read the bios of the A Girl’s Gotta Spa! editors, you may stumble across the fact that Gail Lewis is a model. I don’t mean model being kind, like Gail is attractive, I mean model like fierce, confident and in-demand. And of course, as in actually having a modeling contract. Gail never ceases to amaze me with her versatility. Knowing her in person, she is always very light on the makeup with emphasis on her skin care. She truly is a natural beauty.

So when Gail recently posted the above image from a recent photo shoot on her Facebook, I had to know the look, the products and the people behind it. To no surprise, our resident hair guru, Pearson Knight, conceived the shoot and created her hair and makeup look. I asked him to bring the concept to life for us, which he humbly posted below…

The concept for this shoot was built off two separate inspirations:

1) It was originally an outdoor high fashion concept encompassing all the textures of the back drop. I found a spot in Minneapolis where the grey ground met a peach pillar with a brown metal post that shot 3 stories high. Just about 6 inches behind those beautiful horizontal and vertical lines was a 2 foot wall that was tattered tan brick. It had sections of almost gold with the daylight. On top of the wall was a grey metal gated fence with rectangular smooth posts and cross bars standing together at about 8 foot tall. I had envisioned the model standing and posing to the right of the peach pillar in between the brown post and grey metal gated fence creating a corner and the photographer shooting from the right aiming left diagonally to capture all of the vertical/horizontal lines, colors, textures all leading to the models art. Then…the storm came and sleet decided to come at us blowing sideways. We obviously had to switch gears to shooting indoors at Craig VanDerSchaegen‘s studio. I was bent as I had been eyeing this spot for months and chose the perfect model. I must say the models beauty and expertise mixed with Craig’s amazing photography skills SAVED the day and this image has become one of my favorite works still to this day.

2) When I first met Gail I was in awe. After getting to know Gail Lewis more and more I realized that not only was she the type of person/model you just feel struck by and stare at, but that she carried such strength as well. I learned more about her personal and multicultural background. The adventures, landscapes, and life challenges she faced growing up mixed with the inner drive to figure it out and do things inspired me. I saw she had that “thing”…you know that “thing” someone possesses that can’t be taught or bought – people, photographers, and film seem to agree over and over; the camera loves her. I wanted to showcase that power or uniqueness … of that “thing” combined with her multicultural background and artistic expression. I went with a Tribal Warrior Goddess concept.

I chose a skin tight jumpsuit from Mango with smooth grey with dark brown leather accents. The accessories and wardrobe cascaded the exact colors in the back drop of the location: golds, browns, grey, peach, with bold lines and textures. The neck piece was woven raw gold medals wire hosting a peach square stone and grey rope. The earrings had a textured design with all the colors embedded. The hair was set in gold chains. I had made some tan wrapped leather gloves to wrap up the forearm similar to a gladiator, but had to lose those for the indoor shot.

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Shannon began A Girl’s Gotta Spa! beauty blog in 2005 to morph her love of beauty and in educating women on what truly works and what does not. In 2013 she launched a bath and body line as an extention of the beauty blog. One thing she always has on her at all times? Lip balm.